Writing THIS Is An Act of Rebellion

It's been months since I was in the position that I am in now: a blank page, a full head, and the start of a new blog.

“OK, so you’ve been procrastinating? Taking a break from writing? Why are you telling me this?” you might ask.

Well, because none of the above are true. I’ve been churning out more content than ever, but virtually all of it has been massively assisted by the use of ChatGPT.

At the beginning of the year, I had yet to fully appreciate just how convenient and incredible this tool was. When it did click, I went from zero to one hundred, and now I use it all day long.

So, what’s my point?

Well, it dawned on me that I wasn’t writing anymore. At least not in a from-scratch kind of way. Instead, I was dictating garbled audio notes into the machine, which instantly converted them into fully fleshed-out scripts–or I was sloppily scribbling shorthand messages that were artificially crafted into perfect, cogent emails or documents.

All the while, a pit in my stomach was growing, and a question was ringing in my head: Am I losing my ability to write without this technology?

It would be much quicker for me to vomit my thoughts into AI, and have it spit out the very blog I am writing now–but the irony would be comical. So here I am, writing this the old school way, and asking what I think might be the most pressing question of our age: What impact is this technology having on my brain?

As a follower of Jesus, I am called to live a life of conscious self-examination. Better yet, I daily want to invite the Holy Spirit to test my attitudes and actions, and to reveal the ways in which I am deviating from God’s design.

I am not saying AI is from the devil, although it just might be.

I am convinced that thinking deeply, expressing thoughtfully, and creating “from scratch" are part of our divine inheritance. When we outsource those God-given gifts to a machine, we lose part of who we are. AI’s deleterious impact on relationships is already clear. AI bots are replacing real-life friends and even romantic partners–as our loneliness epidemic goes from bad to worse.

Is it coming for our creativity next?

I am not saying I have the solution, but this is true: God has a design for your life and mine, while Satan and our flesh are constantly conspiring to pervert, distort, and corrupt it.

The only hope we have is to anchor our lives on God’s Word–the source of objective truth–and examine all else by that. This includes our use of AI and its impact on our brains, relationships, and creativity.

As I wrap this up, a profound sense of accomplishment washes over me. No AI was used in the making of this blog, and perhaps I have reclaimed just a small part of my humanity in the process.